Green-corn husker.



' v PATENTED OCT. 27, 19 03. 0. H. DBERING & W. P. GOODWIN. GREEN GQ RN H-USKBR.-

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11,. 1903. N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEETJ.

, lq I r/ 1 WITNESSES:

No. 742,172. PATENTED OCT. 27, 1903. G. H. DEERING & GOODWIN. GREEN CORN HUSKER.

APPLIOATION'PILED JUNE 11, 1903.

no MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 W/ T/VESSES:

f gw 2 $94 UNITED STATES Patented October 27, 1903.

PATENT QFFICE.

CHARLES H. DEERING, OF SACO, AND WILLIAM F. GOODWIN, OF BIDDEFORD, MAINE.

GREEN-CORN'HUSKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 74=2,172, dated October 27, 1903.

Application filed June 11, 1903. Serial No. 161.073.- (No model.)

To all whom it'may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES H. DEERING,

residing at Boom road, Saco,'and WILLIAM- F. GODWIN,residing at Mason street,l3iddeford, in the county of York, State of Maine, citizens of the United States, have invented a certain new and useful Machine-win, a Green-Corn Huskerof which the following is a specification.

This invention. relates to new and useful improvements in cornhusking apparatus; and it consists in the provision of'mechanism in which ears offcorn are fed by endless carriers, the butt-end of the ear sawed off, thereby loosening the husks from the ear, after which the husks are slitted longitudinally by suitable knives and the husks removed from the ear by means of suitable rotary brushes.

The inventionconsists, further, in various details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically defined in the appended claims.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which- Figure l is a top plan view of our improved husking apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is an end elevation; Fig. 4, de-

. tail views of the saw for cutting off the butt of the ear. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the rotary brush. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view in elevation, showing the manner in which thehusks are slitted longitudinally; and Fig. 7 is an end view of the construction shown in Fig. 6.

Reference now being had to the details of the drawings by letter, A designates horizontal beams forming the base portion of the machine, and B designates a driving-pulley which is mounted upon a shaft B, said shaft being journaled in suitable bearings B A second shaftO (shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings) is also journaled in suitable bearings, and a pulley C iskeyed to rotate with said shaft, and an endless belt D travels/about said pulley O and a pulley B which is keyed to rotate with the shaft B, also about a pulley E, which is fixed to rotate with a shaft E.

F designates a beam which is pivoted at F to the upright post F and said beam carries a pulley F mounted in suitable bearings, and F designates an endless belt passing about the pulley F and a similar pulley F which is mounted upon-and rotates with the shaft F". A spring F is provided to hold the beam F in asuitable horizontal position, but so arranged. as to allow the beam to yield when ears of different diameters are passed between the endless belts D and F Mounted on a shaft G, journaled in bearings G,'is a circular saw G the outer face of which is positioned adjacent to one of the longitudinal edges of the endless carrier D. The shaft F has a pulley F about which and a pulley E upon the shaft E an endless belt-E travels, said belt being crossed in order to drive the belt F in the same direction with the travel of the belt D. At right angles to the beams A is a portion of the framework of the apparatus, (designated by letter H,) and journaled in suitable bearings in the right-angled extension of the frame is a shaft 1, Fig. l of the drawings, having a beveled pinionl thereon, which is in mesh with a bevel-pinion 1 keyed to the shaft E, and keyed to the shaft I is apulley 1 (shown clearly in Fig.1.? of the drawings,) about which and a pulley J, Fig. 2 of the drawings, an endless belt or carrier J travels, said pulley J being keyed to rotate with the shaft J Referring to Fig. 3 of the drawings, K designates an inclined plate which is positioned over a portion of the pinion-wheel I and is provided to allow the ear of corn which is fed forward on the carrier D to be deposited upon the endless carrier J, positioned at right angles to the carrier D. For slitting the husks longitudinally after the butt of the car has been severed by the saw G we provide four cutting-knives, (designated by letters L and clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings.) These knives are fastened to stationary portions L of the f rameand are arranged with their free ends directed tow'arda common point, the four ends of said knives being so positioned that the husks upon an ear of corn as the latter is being fed longitudinally between said ends will be slitted longitudinall y at four locations, thus loosening the same from the ear and rendering the husks in condition to be-rernoved from the ear easily by subsequent operation of our machine. A frictional feeding-belt N passes about the pulleys N and N and directly underneath the pulley N is a pulley N said pulleys being mou nted upon suitable shafts and the pulley N being provided to hold the endless carrier J against the car as it is being fed between the pulleys N and N, thereby steadying the car while the husks are being slitted. Mounted upon the vertical shafts M, Fig. 2 of the drawings, are two rotary brushes M, a detail view of one of said brushes being shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, and M and M designate pinion-wheels, which are geared together. M designates a pinion wheel which rotates with one of the shafts M and is in mesh with a pinion-wheel M, keyed to rotate with a shaft M whereby a rotary movement may be imparted to the pinion-wheels M By means of a belt N said belt also passing about the pulley J, motion is imparted from the shaft J and by means of bevel gear-wheels M and M the shaft M is driven from the shaft J Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be observed that two endless belts (designated by letters 0 and O) are provided, the former of which passes about the pulleys Q and Q, which are keyed to the shafts Q and M respectively, while the belt 0 passes about pulleys R and R, which are keyed to rotate with the shafts R and R respectively. An intermediate pulley S is mounted upon a shaft S and is directly opposite a pulley S at a position adjacent to the two inner longitudinal portions of the endless belts O and O and provided for the purpose of holding the two portions of the endless belts in such a position that the husks of the corn will be properly acted upon by the rotary brushes T and T, which are positioned one above the ear and one beneath, only one of said brushes, however, being shown in the top plan view, Fig. 1. Said brushes '1 and T are mounted upon the shafts T and T respectively, Fig. 2 of the drawings, and pinion-wheels 'l and T are keyed to rotate with said shafts and are in mesh with each other, a rotary movement being imparted to pinion T by means of the crossed belt T which travels about the circumference of the large wheel, which is keyed to the shaft J Motion is com municated to the shaft R from the shaft Q by means of a crossed belt T, a portion of which is shown in solid lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

It will be observed that the portions of the endless carrier or belt J which operate upon the ears to feed the same forward are disposed in horizontal planes, while the pulleys about which the belts or carriers 0 and 0 travel are in horizontal planes, which will bring the portions of the belt which act upon the ears in vertical planes or planes at right angles to the planes in which the carriers J and N are disposed. This arrangement of apparatus is for the purpose of first allowing diametrically opposite portions of the ear to be engaged by the carriers J and N while being acted upon by the brushes M and after the car has passed the brushes M and it is desired to allow the second set of brushes, which are disposed in vertical planes, to contact with the portions of the husks which are not acted upon by the first set of brushes.

The operation of the invention is as follows: Ears of corn are placed upon the endless belt or carrier D, an ear of corn being illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 in the position which it will assume upon the carrier. As the carrier travels in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 as the ear approaches a posit-ion intermediate the pulleys F and C it will be held by said pulleys and by the endless carrier F which cooperates With the carrier D while the butt-end of the ear is being cut off by the saw G". This being done, the ear is conveyed forward by the two carriers D and F and deposited upon the plate K. Said plate being inclined, the car will roll down onto the endless carrier J, which travels at right angles to the direction of travel of the carriers D and F, and the car will be carried in a direction at right angles to its travel before being deposited upon the carrier J and lengthwise of the carrier J. As the ear approaches the slitting-knives L the buttend of the ear will be held securely by the pulleys N and N during the slitting process which cuts the husks, and the endless carrier J, cooperating with the endless belt N, will convey the ear to and between the first set of rotary brushes, which are mounted upon the shafts M, and as the ear passes between said brushes, which are in rotation, portions of the husks of the car will be loosened from the ear and also the silk underneath the husks. After this operation the ear, with portions on opposite sides being relieved of husks, is conveyed still farther by the endless carrier J until the ear reaches the two endless belts or conveyers O and O, which are disposed in vertical planes, thus presenting vertical contact-surfaces to the two portions of the ear which have been relieved of the husks and silk, and the ear is carried forward by the endless belts O and O and passed between the second set of brushes T and T, which are disposed in vertical planes and which serve the purpose of removing the remaining husks and silk from the car which are not removed by the passage of the ear between the first set of brushes, after which the ear, with the husks and silk removed, may be conveyed by any suitable means to any desired location.

From the foregoing it will be observed that from the time the ear is placed upon the conveyer D the various steps in removing the husks are entirely automatic, comprising the cutting off of the butt-end of the ear, which loosens the husks, the directing the onward movement of the car at right angles to the direction it takes when having the end severed IIO therefrom, the loosening of the husks by the slitting-knives, and then the removing of the husks by the means shown.

While we have shown a particular construction of apparatus embodying the features of our invention, it will be understood that we may make alterations in the apparatus without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1. A corn-husking machine comprising an endless conveyor on which the ears of corn are fedinto the machine, a pivoted beam, a pulley carried thereby, a stationary pulley, an endless belt mounted upon said pulleys, said belt so positioned that it will engage the ear of corn carried by the conveyer, arotary saw, and a pulley cooperating with the pulley upon said pivotal beam for holding the ear While the butt-end thereof is being severed, and means for slitting the husks and removing the same from the car, as set forth.

2-. A corn-husking machine comprising an endless conveyer, abeam pivoted to the frame of the machine, a pulley mounted upon said beam, a stationary pulley, an endless belt passing about said pulleys, a rotary saw for severing the butt-end of the ear as it is carried forward by said conveyer and belt, an endless carrier positioned at right angles to said conveyer, an inclined plate designed to deposit the ear with the end severed upon said endless carrier, slitting-knives between which said ear is conveyed, and rotary brushes for removing the husks after being cut, as set forth.

3. A corn husking machine comprising means for feeding the ear into the machine, and severing the butt-end thereof, an endless carrier on which the ear is deposited after the end is severed therefrom, a series of slittingknives arranged at inclinations to each other, an endless belt adapted to cooperate with said carrier to hold the ear while the husks are slitted and to feed the same forward after the husks are out, and rotary brushes designed to remove the husks from opposite sides of the ear while the latter isbeing conveyed forward by said carrier and belt, as set forth.

4. A corn-husking machine comprising means for feeding the ear into the machine, and severing the butt-end thereof, an endless carrier on which the ear is deposited after the end is severed therefrom, a series of slittingknives arranged at inclinations'to eachother, an endless belt adapted to cooperate with said carrier to hold the car while the husks are slitted and to feed the same forward after the husks are cut, and rotary brushes designed to remove the husks from opposite sides of the ear while the latter is being conveyed forward by said carrier and belt, and a second the ear is severed therefrom, slitting-knives for cutting the husks longitudinally, an endless belt cooperating with the endless carrier to hold the. ear while the husks are being cut, horizontally-rotating brushes designed to remove the husks which are cut at locations diametrically opposite, a set of conveyor-belts traveling in vertical planes designed to engage the ear of corn after it is acted upon by said brushes, and a set of brushes mounted.

in horizontal planes adapted to remove the remaining husks from the ears when the latter are held by said vertically-moving belts, and geared connections between the movable parts of the machine, as set forth.

CHARLES H. DEERING. WILLIAM F. GOODWIN. Witnesses:

JOHN P. DEERING, GEORGE E. PERKINS.. 

